Η ιστορία της παιδείας του 16ου-17ου αιώνα και η παλαιογραφική μέθοδος. Δάσκαλος-μαθητής

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Η ιστορία της παιδείας του 16ου-17ου αιώνα και η παλαιογραφική μέθοδος. Δάσκαλος-μαθητής, Page 1 of 1

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In September 2008, the seventh edition of the International Colloquium of Greek Palaeography (Madrid-Salamanca, 15-20 September 2008) celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Palaeographia Graeca, the pioneer work of the Benedictine Bernard de Montfaucon that established the fundamentals of the discipline. Papers by renowned specialists in the field contributed to the methodology of study and to our knowledge of Greek manuscripts, and opened new perspectives for the study of the Greek manuscripts preserved mostly in European libraries, taking into account new methodological approaches, the possibilities of online resources and the results of ongoing research projects.

The Proceedings published here include contributions by specialists from over ten different countries, dealing with palaeographical issues such as ancient capital and lower-case lettering, writing and books in the Macedonian, Comnenian and Palaeologan periods, and Greek scribes and ateliers in the Renaissance (especially in manuscripts from the Iberian Peninsula). Many contributors also take a codicological approach and consider the material aspects of the codex, as well as other new research techniques. Finally, some papers deal with the book as object and how this relates to its content, as well as with the history of texts.

The International Colloquia of Greek Palaeography are organized by the International Committee of Greek Palaeography, presided by Prof. Dieter Harlfinger. The seventh edition payed tribute to the memory of the late Jean Irigoin, who died in 2006.

Until recently the study of Greek palaeography concentrated, as a rule, on establishing the characteristics of a particular scriptorium or school of writing. Such aspects as the transfer from teacher to pupil of specific graphic features or the style of handwriting as a whole were examined only in studies of specific book-producing centres and workshops. In 1988, however, B. L. Fonkič first drew attention to the fact that the script of the students at the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow depended directly on the handwriting of their teachers, the Greek scholars and founders of the Academy Ioannikios and Sophronios Lichudes, especially the last one.

The Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy is not the only example of pupils copying the distinctive features of their teachers’ scripts. Further study of Greek schools and centres of learning founded by Greek instructors has revealed other similar cases. The handwriting of Ioannikios Lichudes imitates the script of his teacher of Greek language, the scholar and preacher Gerasimos Vlachos. Ioannikios Lichudes’s pupils in the Novgorod school imitated his handwriting. In relation to the school of the Lvov Orthodox Stauropegial Brotherhood, at which Arsenios of Elasson taught for two years (1586-1588), the application of the palaeographical method provides a unique opportunity to prove the direct participation of Arsenios in the teaching process, to trace his work with pupils, and also to observe how the handwriting tradition borrowed from Arsenios was preserved over the fifty years following his departure from Lvov.

Thus, the application of the palaeographical method is possible not only when studying various scriptoria and schools of writing, but also Greek centres of learning. The method opens up new possibilities for studying Greek and Russian education and broadens our ideas of the subject.